


I Don't Believe!

by MissReaperDeath



Category: Bleach
Genre: Abandonment, Comedy, Death, Denial, Drama, F/M, Family Drama, Fluff, Recognition, Slapstick, Teen Angst, Tragedy, a whole lot of denial, relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2016-03-02
Packaged: 2018-05-12 05:39:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5654470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissReaperDeath/pseuds/MissReaperDeath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I don't believe in ghosts." "But you can see them." "...yes, I can." "And you've been attacked by a Hollow once, how can you not believe in them?" "I don't believe in ghosts, they are not real. And I don't believe in orange-haired Soul Reapers such as yourself." "Sheesh, when will you believe that this situation is real?" "I don't know. I believe never."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Stop whatever you are doing and pay attention to what I say. Now…pretend you’re like me, and you were forced to enter an international art competition where first place was the choice of prize money or a scholarship to learn in Japan, sponsored by the ISE (International Student Exchange). When you enter your best painting and won, you specifically tell your agent, Mr. Browne, that you needed the money so that you could send it to your only family member, your brother. But guess what he does?

Take a guess. There are no wrong answers. …well, except one of them is right. But that’s not the point!

Have you taken the guess?

…

Japan Airlines, scheduled to leave the American Airlines Airport at 10:35 in the morning, was full. Half of the people on the airplane were students in the ISE, chatting excitedly about being given the chance to go to Japan and learn all about their culture and history. I could only sigh, seeing that the scholarship was tied to the ISE program.

I was sitting in seat 10A, with the tray table down that had a drawing pad laying abandoned on it, had my seat in the upright position, and a leather satchel bag tucked under the seat in front of me. My violin case was in the compartment above me.

My seat belt was tightly bucked, and to my luck, I had the window seat. Staring out the window, I sighed and resumed my sketching with a graphic pencil my brother had given me before I got on the plane. Soon, after the stewardess had finished giving the safety instructions (to which I had dozed off), I felt the plane move, its wheels bumping slowly before taking off.

I found myself dozing off, looking through the small window, feeling strangely at peace—

Suddenly, the captain’s Japanese voice crackled over the loudspeakers. “ _This is your captain speaking, and…I don’t feel that life is worth living anymore._ ” Everyone’s eyes bulged out as the captain began crying hysterically. “ _Oh god…my wife left me, my children hate my guts, and my father just revealed he had a second family!_ ”

I blinked as everyone began to murmur. Did he just…say that he doesn’t feel that life was worth living anymore?

Seriously!?

“ _I don’t wanna live anymore, and I’m taking you all with me—_ ” That’s when banging and the sound of grunting, screams of bloody murder, and struggling filled the intercom and then a high pitch wail. Then, a different voice filled the loudspeakers.

“ _This is your co-captain speaking. Dismiss what the captain was saying, and enjoy the rest of the flight._ ” We all sighed in relief until he added, “ _Now…what does this button do?_ ”

“WHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!”

Oh dear Lord!

“ _Just kidding~ But seriously, my peeps, we’re going to stop at the illustrious United Kingdom to get this man some help. Please bear with us with this transaction. The next flight will be free of charge._ ”

I slumped in my seat, blue depressed lines hanging over my head. That’s it, I’ve decided. I hate international flights. And I will hurt, both physically and mentally, Mr. Browne. Or at least my brother will before I get to him.

End of discussion.

“I can’t wait to get to Japan…”

.

.

.

It was probably around five thirty in the afternoon in Japan, and I was watching the police escort the captain out of the airport, him staggering and screaming. I had my suitcase, satchel, and violin case with me as I watched, along with the crowd, of the hysterical man crying as he gave the police a hard time putting him into the police car.

“WHY, OH WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO MEEEE?! I DIDN’T DESERVE THIS, KAMI! WHHHHYYYYY!?”

…who’s Kami?

Apparently the police in England didn’t want to deal with this suicide pilot. Neither did we, but after touring around London for three hours, we went back on the eleven hour stressful plane ride to Japan with the pilot who was screaming hysterically the entire time.

Not even the highest volume of my iPod could drown out his pitiful cries.

Not even the free souvenirs the airport gave us during our stop at London could make me forget about the lack of sleep I got. I’m so tired I could sleep on the street and not care what happens after that.

“Excuse me, Miss, are you by chance Sonya Avalon?” Turning around, I met with eye contact with a man around mid-thirties having brown eyes and brown hair wearing a plain suit.

“Y-Yes.”

“I’m Narumi, a good friend to Jacob Browne, and was told to take you to Karakura Town, located near Yokohama,” The man said as he took the suitcase from my tired hand, though I protested. He soon ushered me down the sidewalk, weaving our way through the thick crowds of Japanese citizens, and to the parking lot building. It took around ten minutes to reach a black shiny car, and I found myself sitting in the passenger’s seat. Narumi was in the driver’s seat, already driving.

I think I’m being kidnapped. I don’t even know the man, or even if Mr. Browne HAS any friends. Sorry, sorry, that was a little too harsh, huh?

“Karakura Town isn’t too far from here.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes!...only two hour away.”

Adults are just so… _UGH_!

.

.

.

I was fuming, totally not in the mood. It took two hours of an awkward drive with Narumi, who decided to please me with singing some American songs, all the while trying to make me join in, to which I remember that Mr. Browne said not to waste my singing on trivial matters. So I ended up listening to him.

He was terrible. My ears…

Then! He dropped me off at the bus station, where Karakura Town was only five minutes away, and gave me a map of where the house Mr. Browne rented should be.

Key word. _Should._

Heaving a sigh, I walk down the sidewalk of the dark neighborhood, feeling exhausted and sleepy. There were two story houses, with little alleys in between, and the streets were empty. That was both good and bad. Good, for that I won’t have to worry about people staring at me and asking if I was a foreigner. Bad, for that a mugger could come out and steal my violin. It’s precious to me.

“Honestly, I wish I didn’t enter that contest…” I muttered, my feet growing heavier with each step. I blinked, my eyelids also growing heavy. Hm? That’s strange? I’m not that tired am I? “Hah…hanh…” Slouching, I took in slow, deep breaths, trying to shake away the sluggishness. Deciding to ignore it, I continued walking a quicker pace as best as I could.

_SNAP!_

My whole body shook like an earthquake, my mind spinning, my heart beating, and my breathing stop. What the…? My knees started shaking, like lemon Jell-O, and I couldn’t take one more step. Why am I afraid? Was it the dark? Am I afraid of the dark again? Yeah…that must be it. That must be it—

~BOOM~

A two story house, with the sign of Kurosaki Clinic, suddenly had the front explode, the wall crumbling into piece. Forming an ‘x’ with my arms, I step back, the debris flying towards me. Wh-What just happened? Lowering my hands, I could see a large hole in the building, revealing a torn up kitchen inside. There was a man, dressed in a funky fashion under a doctor’s coat, but he was unconscious on the floor, his back bleeding.

I opened my mouth, wanting to scream, but nothing came out, instead, I could feel something… _powerful_ and _frightening_ behind me. Hovering its large shadow over me.

“ **Smells…so good. So much…spiritual energy…!** ” Without thinking, I craned my head up, only to actually scream from the sight. It was a large creature, with bold linings decorating its white mass, a big white mask with a creepy smile flashing its teeth and big white eyes bordered with black. There was a big hole in its chest, as if something was removed. Taken away.

Lost forever.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!” I shrieked, stepping back from the monster. What was that?! Before I could scream again, I noticed something in the monster’s large hands, a little girl with short blonde hair, bloodied and injured. My hand dropped my suitcase and flew up to my mouth, trying hiding my horror and shock.

“ **You smell nice, girl. So much energy. Just as much as the energy I’ve sensed…here…** ” It said as its other free hand reached out for me. My eyes widened to the point it must have been painful, but it wasn’t as painful as the headache I was getting. This monster…

It looks like… Like those monsters back th—

“YUZUUUU!!!”

Turning around, I saw a boy running out of the house, through the hole, holding a baseball bat. He wore a gray uniform and had orange spiky hair and brown eyes. An angry scowl split his face as he dashed towards our direction. What was he doing? He’s going to get killed, along with me and this girl!

“S-STAY BACK--!” I cringed, feeling the migraine hit my head like a hammer. Why… Why does it hurt so much?! My knees buckled as I ducked my head down, holding it. “AAUUGH! IT HURTS!” My head pounding, I struggled to look up, only to see the boy get tossed back by the monster, hitting the concrete street.

Dammit, why is this happening? That thing… It’s a ghost of some sort, isn’t it?! I froze in place as I felt a force of air flow past me quickly from behind. It…it’s behind me.

“ **You smell so nice…so nice… So delicious!** ” Craning my head up, I watch as it brought its free hand, balled up into a fist, down, planning to crush me under the enormous force. It came closer and closer, and I could feel my life flying past. Why… Just when I came to Japan…

A girl with black hair dressed in a black loose kimono like clothing flew in; slicing both the monsters wrist with grace and skill, and a flow of red crimson blood flew out. “ **GRAARRRR!** ” It shrieked as it let loose of the little girl as the injured arms flew up in the air.

Moving my feet, I reached my hands out and jumped, catching her in my arms. She was unconscious, her head bleeding. Ignoring my unbearable migraine, I patted her face to try and wake her. “Hey…hey! Are you okay? Wake up!”

No use. She was out, but not dead. Thank the Lord.

Grabbing the suitcase that I had abandoned on the ground, I ran over to the boy, crouching next to him. “Hey, sir! Wake up! I have your sister!” My breath hitched in my throat as he trembled and lifted himself from the ground, brown eyes meeting brown eyes. He immediately flew at me, and I let out a small scream. He cradled the little girl’s face, shaking lightly.

“Yuzu! You okay?!!” I sighed heavily, unable to process anything before that girl from before landed in front of us, her back towards us. I take the time to pull out a white handkerchief and began to apply it against Yuzu’s head.

“Stay calm, boy! The Hollow has not eaten any of your family’s souls yet!” The girl barked with authority, and I froze. That’s what those monsters are called? Hollows?!

“It hasn’t?” The boy questioned as he let go of Yuzu’s head, allowing me (a complete stranger) to look after her. …what a great brother.

The girl nodded, readying her sword. “Not even the soul of your father, who lies on the floor!” Soul? Hollows eat souls? I watched the girl walk forward towards where the Hollow was standing.

Cradling Yuzu close after the wound had stopped bleeding, I gulped, not understanding the situation anymore. I lost it. Nothing made sense. Who was that girl? Who is this boy? Why are we being attacked? “Wait! You mean Hollows attack people to eat their souls!?” I asked while pocketing the bloodied handkerchief as the boy stood up.

“So why’d that thing attack my family…?!”

The girl didn’t look back at us as we stood up, me still carrying the light girl, “Hollows are drawn to high level of spirit energy… But they also attack opportunistically.”  I drowned everything out as I fell back down, my legs finally giving out. Hugging Yuzu tightly, afraid that if I let go she’ll get taken by the Hollow, I felt tears fall down my cheeks.

No.

I don’t believe in this sort of thing! They’re just fantasy! Illusions! There is no proof of ghosts existing!

A force hit me, and I flew back, my head smashing against the pavement, and let out a gasp of pain. What… Hugging even tighter, I slowly sat up; blood trickling down my head as I quickly checked the girl for more injuries. There was a small scratch on her knee.

Glancing over to the boy and girl, my eyes widened, haziness taking over. The girl was injured, possibly when I was out of it, and…her katana was pointed at the boy, as if inviting him to touch it. What were they doing?

Why?

No more…

“I…Ichigo…” My head snapped down, seeing Yuzu speak in her sleep. She was writhing slightly, as if having a bad dream. The boy, Ichigo, had turned to look at us, his eyes studying his little sister. Then, me.

Why me?

“Don’t come… Danger… …run…Ichigo…” She sobbed quietly, tears forming in her closed eyelids. I placed a hand on her eyes, wiping them away gently. Ichigo, the boy with orange hair, stared at us, eyes full of fear, anger, and sorrow. None of us, in a sense, wanted this to happen.

Turning away, he reached out and grabbed ahold of the sword, pulling the tip up to his chest. “Gimme the sword, Soul Reaper! We’ll try your plan!”

What plan?

The girl smiled slightly, though still bloody, “Not ‘Soul Reaper’. I am Rukia Kuchiki.”

Ichigo nodded, smiling as well. “Ichigo Kurosaki, nice to meet’cha.” They then steadied the sword above his heart, and my eyes widened. No! “Let’s pray this won’t be our last meeting.”

“ **GRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAH!** ” The Hollow ran forward, gaining speed as he stampede to give us our ending. Holy crap… We’re gonna die. I don’t want to die—

A white light flashed, blinding both me and the Hollow, who shrieked, but lunged at us. I closed my eyes, seeing that they were burning from the light. I’m so tired…

~HACK~

My eyes snapped open, seeing that the light had faded and both the arms of the Hollow had been sliced clean. Ichigo, now wearing the same black cloak, stood there tall and proud, holding a long sword, glaring intensely at the Hollow. The Hollow staggered, before opening its mouth to try and crush Ichigo with his jaws when the new Soul Reaper simply, without fear, brought his sword down and sliced the monster’s head in half clean.

The monster shivered and disappeared, as I let out a sigh. My migraine was gone. I glanced at the girl, and saw that she was wearing a white thin yukata, not the black clothes she wore.

That’s it.

Forget this.

Pulling out a handkerchief, the same one as before, I folded it horizontally and set the girl down, resting her head gently against the ground before wrapping the handkerchief tightly around her knee to stop the bleeding and stood up. I grabbed my suitcase and repositioned my satchel and violin case before running off into the street. I’ll be damned if they chased after me.

“This never happened!”


	2. I don’t believe violent classmates

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, Tite Kubo does. And we respect him.

The first thing I experience in Japan on this wonderful morning? Jetlag. My eyes were burning from exhaustion and I could barely get out of bed when my alarm clock went off. After figuring out that the toilet and the bathtub were in separate rooms (but next door to each other) I was now dressed in my gray uniform with the red silk ribbon undone at the collar in the bathroom that had the toilet and the sink. My hands were trembling as I tried to tie the ribbon, but to no avail, it remained undone.

“Haah…” I sighed as I attempted one more time. Nope. My fingers delicately tried to tie the dainty strip of cloth again, but as the other times, I failed. Grunting, I grabbed at it and tugged at the darn thing, feeling it slip from my collar and watched it flow in the air. “Who needs a ribbon?”

That’s right, I rage quit.

Tucking it into my skirt pocket, I exiting the bathroom while wrapping a light pink scarf around my neck, heading straight for the kitchen where the rice cooker was steaming and the pot bubbling. A bento box sat on the kitchen counter, where only some types of food rested inside. I grabbed the apron off the chair and wore it over my uniform before checking on the rice. “Looking good,” I smiled as I saw the white grains being steamed perfectly.

~Da-da-dadada-HEY!~…dadadadadadada-HEY!~

I shut the rice cooker closed and rummaged through my pockets, pulling out my phone frantically. Only one person was deserving of such a ringtone, because he was frickin’ adorable to me, and that person was…

I flipped my phone open and answered, “Moshi moshi*, this is Sonya.”

“ _Moshi moshi_ _what’s your face—what is this language? What sorcery do you speak of, Sonya?_ ” A familiar deep voice asked curiously, yet gruffly as I turned off the rice cooker when it beeped. That meant that the rice was prepared for eating.

“ _Big brother, it’s called Japanese_ ,” I huffed as I got a spoon and began scooping some into my bento box. “ _Try learning it_.”

“ _I don’t want to. That means I have to read something. You know I hated school. It killed me once at freshman year, and it killed me again at graduation—to which I recall not attending. And worth it to! I saw a pink elephant just now!—oh, wait, that was my animal cracker~_ *munch* _”_

…

I moved the cell phone away from my ears, looking at it before putting it against my right ear cautiously. “ _Br-bro, are you okay_?”

“ _Never better! It’s like, nighttime or something, and my roommate gave me some cherries soaked in this bitter liquid, but I ate them anyways! And now I feel all woozy and weird. I ate them ‘cuz they were free, but I ain’t never accepting food from him again! It must’ve been brandy, the liquid… Man, I feel so lame for not recognizing it! I’m just eating these frosted animal crackers to soak up the booze._ ”

I chuckled. I wasn’t mad at him at all for drinking alcohol without knowing it. I was only glad that big brother could hold his liquor just a bit. Shrugging it off, I continued adding a little more rice, “ _So, besides that… How are you doing, big brother_?”

“ _Oh, I’m fine~!  I made the biggest fart, too!_ ”

“ _Fart…_?”

“ _To think I had appendicitis! It really hurt and I thought I was going to die, but once I had the operation, I was fine. But now I’m damaged goods… Big brother is sad…_ ”

I glared at the phone, utterly disgusted, “ _I’m hanging up_.”

“ _Nooo! Kidding, kidding! Don’t hang up, sis_!”

I assembled the food neatly in the bento box, making sure they were crammed tightly before tightly closing it with the top. “ _I’m going to school anyway, big brother, and I just finished making my lunch. Besides, we can talk more, can’t we? But no more fart talk_.”

“ _But those are the best jokes!_ ”

“ _Dude._ ” I deadpanned before huffing my chest out in pride, “ _You have to act your age. Or you’ll be single forever_!”

“ _…I see… Listen, how about I call you in the morning? Well, over in Japan, I guess it’ll be around bed time, but we’ll talk more then. I love you, Sonya. Good night and good morning._ ”

I closed my eyes halfway, “ _Yeah, good night, bro_.”

~Beep~

I closed my phone before placing the smooth device against my lips. _I miss you_. After pocketing the phone, I grabbed the finished boxed lunch and placed it into the messenger style backpack I was provided by Mr. Browne.

DING! A toasted piece of bread snapped up from the toaster and I reached over, spreaded strawberry jam on it and took a bite into it. My head suddenly snapped up when I heard the front door of the condo open, and Mr. Browne came in, wearing a black pinstriped suit. He held a briefcase as he walked into the kitchen, wearing blue slippers on his feet. It was traditional to come into the house without shoes on; you leave your shoes at the front door. Japanese customs.

“Sonya, what on earth are you doing here?” Mr. Browne asked bewildered as he took in the clothes that I wore: a grey skirt, white shirt, grey blazer, black opaque pantyhose and my light pink scarf. I had elbow and knee guards on, planning to roller blade to school. I had no desire to have Mr. Browne chauffeur me to school.

I wanna be normal!

“I live here,” I reply as I began taking small bites out of my toast. Mr. Brown shook his head as he grabbed my arm and dragged me over to the front door, pointing to my purple roller blades.

“Sonya, that isn’t what I meant. It’s half an hour ‘til eleven o’clock!”

…

…

The fasteners of the roller skates snapped closed around my feet as I swing my bag onto my shoulders, the toast hanging from my mouth.

“SFEE YOU VAITER!”

Mr. Browne glared, “It’ll probably be third period by the time she gets there. Oh, her being late better not ruin her reputation.”

XXX

With long strokes for about seven seconds on each foot, I kicked, rolling down the sidewalk towards Karakura High School. I really did it now. Earlier, when I left the apartment, I realized I had forgotten my violin and had to go back. Groaning, I glided around the corner, zooming down the street, sweat already pouring down my face. The thing about roller blading that I liked is that no matter how bad you are at sports, all that matters is balance.

“Hh…hhh..boy, I wish I had…hhh…some endurance…” I kicked my already tired legs forward, closing my eyes momentarily, never noticing that someone was up head.

“Hey, hag, watch out—!”

CRASH!

“OOWW!” I tumbled back, falling right on my butt. “Right on the county seat! Ergh! Owowowow—”

“Hey! Haven’t you heard about looking both ways before crossing the street?” A voice growled in front of me. Blinking my eyes open, I stared at the person in front of me. It was a young boy, around ten, with black messy hair, green eyes… He glared at me as I found myself staring into his eyes. They were pretty. “Well, you hag?”

“I wasn’t crossing the street, so I guess that doesn’t revert to me!” I said with a big smile. The boy frowned before pointing at his knees.

“Look what you did, you clumsy hag! I scraped my knees!”

I looked at his knees. They were perfectly un-scraped. Liar. “They look fine to me, kid.”

The boy jumped before checking his knee, then glared at me and— “OMPH!” I sweatdropped as the kid had threw himself down, his left knee scraping slightly. “Ow! Look what you did, hag!” The boy whined before glaring at an uninterested kid. “I’ll cry so loud that people will start looking at us and think you’re a bad person!”

I looked around, not seeing much people around. “No one’s really around.”

“Waaaaahh….!”

“Kid, it’s not gonna—”

“WAAAAAH!”

Holy snap… I looked around, seeing walking by adults staring at us.

“Terrible high schoolers.” “Looks like a foreigner.” “Should we do something?”

My hand shot into my pocket and I held out a chocolate bar. “I’ll give you this chocolate if you stop crying!”

The boy stopped his crying and glared at me, “Your bribing won’t work on me!” The next thing he did was snatched the bar out of my hand, unwrapped it, and bit into it. I sighed in relief before standing up and helping the kid up.

“Look, I’m sorry I crashed into you. I’ll be more careful, bye! I’m seriously late for school!” I called out as I skated off. The boy watched my retreating for before biting into the smooth chocolate and turned away, heading off to wherever he was going.

“Stupid girl.”

 

* * *

 

Taking off my roller blades, I hopped on one roller blade-less foot, bowing again and again to the old bald principal. I was too busy bowing to actually talk, and taking off my skates. The old principal nodded his head at me and began trying to speak, what I guess was English.

“ _It okay. Jetlag, yes?_ ” The principal asked as I sweatdropped. Good English, if you had just learned it.

“I understand Japanese. No worries,” I explained to him as I placed the roller blades into the shoe locker and exchanged them for indoor shoes.

“Oh, well, I apologize! I didn’t realize you spoke so fluently!” The principal laughs heartily as I put on the indoor shoes. Easily, I snapped off the guards and placed them in the locker before closing it. “I understand you arrived at Japan yesterday, so it’s reasonable for you to wake up late.”

I bowed, thankful for the principal’s understanding.

“So… You will start detention after school.”

“Wait! I thought you understood about me having jetlag!” I cried. Never mind, he SO did not understand.

The old man’s smile never ceased, “Well, I’d understand if you were late for first period. But being late when third period is about to start?”

Burn.

Unwillingly, I nodded. “Okay…”

“Good! Now! I have our best student here to give you a tour around the school.”  The principal pointed to a teenage boy of average height. He had straight, chin-length raven hair framing both sides of his face, fair-skinned with blue eyes. He wore the school uniform respectively, with a tie. “His name is Ishida Uryuu, or in America, Uryuu Ishida.”

This Uryuu was reading a little book that seemed to be a pocket dictionary (yes, I read those too), finding it more interesting than me. Trying to pass off as the elusive character of this story, I see…

I crossed my arms and leaned onto one leg, narrowing my eyes at him. He still didn’t notice. This was an elusive nerd.

“Ishida-san, please show Avalon-san around the school property around lunch time. For now, take her to class,” The principal said as Uryuu looked up.

“Yes sir.”

I tried not to roll my eyes as the principal walked away and Uryuu glanced over to me.

“Let’s go.”

I let my arms fall to my side and I jumped over to him, “Show me the way, my good man! Shaken, not stirred!” Uryuu sweatdropped as I grinned, and he pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose.

“Foreigners are so strange…” Uryuu claimed as I gave him the thumbs up.

“If you keep thinking like that, you’ll be racist! It’s bad to be that.”

Uryuu stared at me before walking off, “Come on, then.”

“Hey! Wait up!”

Uryuu didn’t slow down, and I was tugging my bag and violin along following him down the hallway and up the stairs. Finally, we arrived at a classroom where it was probably passing period.

“Class will start soon, just find a seat and be good until lunch.” Uryuu said as he opened the door for me. At least he was a gentleman? Maybe? I shrugged and stepped in, only to freeze when I saw the familiar orange headed boy from yesterday.

“Hck!” Almost choking on my spit, I froze in place, earning Uryuu’s attention.

“What’s wrong?” He asked before looking to where I was looking at and glared. “Oh... I see, did you meet him someplace before?”

“Q-Quite the opposite!” I cried before placing my hands over my mouth, realizing I was too loud. Immediately, the orange haired boy glanced over to us and his eyes widened. He stood up and pointed at me,

“YOU’RE THAT—!”

Surprisingly, and humorously, the black-haired girl shoved a book that was upside down into his face. “Son of a… Ichigo, what does this part mean? I can’t read it quite well.” That smile on her face looked innocent, but I was feeling more scared than relaxed.

Uryuu frowned before pushing me towards an empty seat, “Sit here, Ms. Ochi will be here to teach Social Studies. Stay here until lunch time.”

I paled as Uryuu went somewhere else to sit down at. That’s when the girl who smacked Ichigo’s face with a book sat down next to me. She glanced over to the sweating, paling me before holding out her hand. “Um… Haha~, I forgot to bring a pencil to class. Since we’re both transfer students, mind letting me borrow one?”

I gulped and nodded, “S-Sure, I brought my pencil case here— ah?!” I had pulled into a mechanical pencil and was about to place it in her palm when I saw a message sprawled on there with a marker.

**" MAKE A SCENE AND YOU’RE SO DEAD. "**

I paled even more, shaking as she smiled, introducing herself, “My name is Rukia Kuchiki, a transfer. I heard you’re a transfer student from abroad. Let’s be friends, kay?”

Yeah right I’ll be friends with you after that sly threat—

“S-Sure~! My name is Sonya Avalon, nice to meet you!~” I forced myself to smile.

Dammit, me!

 

* * *

 

“How far are we going?” I asked as I numbly walked next to Rukia, following Ichigo to the courtyard. Rukia forced me to come along during a free period, and Uryuu was nowhere to be seen.

He abandoned me, more or less.

“Such a secluded place. What’s on your mind, big boy?” Rukia chirped, not really understanding what she actually said. I deadpanned, just as Ichigo glanced back, more irritated than off-put,

“Don’t say stuff like that, it’s disgusting!” Ichigo grumbled before looking away from us.

“Disgusting? How rude.” Rukia huffed as she crossed her arms. I looked away, feeling strangely out of place. I wanna go home. To America. And watch WWE, where CM Punk does a ladder match. Now that’s how you spend a Monday afternoon. “I spent the whole night learning colloquialisms! Not bad, eh?”

That was…actually pretty impressive. Good job, girl who just threatened me!

“Shut up! Explain why you’re here!” Ichigo whipped around and pointed an accusing finger at Rukia. Rukia blanked out.

“Explain?”

Ichigo frowned, “That’s right! Isn’t your work here finished?! Why are you sneaking into my class? Why didn’t you go back to the Soul Society or whatever?!” My eyes were rolling around at his endless questions.

“Shush! I’d have to be a Soul Reaper to return to the Soul Society! I can’t go back,” Rukia answered as I looked around.

Why was I here again? I shrugged and kicked back as Ichigo sweated, blankly looked at Rukia. “Why not?” Rukia looked away before facing Ichigo.

“Because… I lost all of my dark force!”

I blanked out before looking at her, “You lost what…?” Ichigo, on the other hand, was freaking out. “You lost your powers? What are they, socks?! Where did they go?”

“Inside you.” I almost fell forward. She said that so casually! “Not in your body, but your soul. You’ve become a Soul Reaper.”

“…”

Rukia ignored his silence and continued, “Last night – you stole all my powers from me!” I blinked and remembered last night events—wait, no! I didn’t see anything! And it’ll stay like that!

DENIAL MODE ACTIVATED.

“I can only do a few spells now, and I have to rely on this Gigai!”

“Gigai?” Ichigo questioned.

“A temporary body we Soul Reapers use in emergencies. Disempowered Soul Reapers inhabit Gigais until their powers return,” Rukia explained and I looked around the courtyard, planning my great escape. I don’t like this or them.

“That’s a gig-thing? It looks human.” Ichigo commented and Rukia looked like she was going to slap him upside the head with an ‘ **are you kidding me?** ’ look. Yet, she simply crossed her arms and stared hard at Ichigo.

By now, I’ve decided to mentally think insults towards Ichigo at the pauses of Rukia’s sentences.

“It’s supposed to look real.” **Dipwad**. “I’d be easy prey for a Hollow without my powers–,” **Strawberry Shortcake** , “– so I have to disguise myself as a human.” **Moro** —

Whoa, holla holla holla, hold on there. Rukia isn’t human? I mean, yeah, she said it before, but…

 _She_ ain’t human?

“So?” I gave Ichigo a look. That’s not what you say to a person who said she pretty much wasn’t human! “What does a powerless Soul Reaper want with me?” Oh, so she’s a Soul Reaper… hm… in Japanese, you read that as Shinigami, in a way.

Rukia pointed a finger up, nodding, “Here it is. Until I regain my powers…” She fisted the air towards us, giving us a courageous smile, “You two have to do the work of a Soul Reaper!”

Oh.

Hell.

No.

Ichigo and I deadpanned at her before chorusing, “HUH!?”

Rukia gave us a ‘ **STFU** ’ look before pointing at us, “What’s the problem? You have the powers of a Soul Reaper, and Sonya can see us. And I’ll help you. You have no choice, this really is all your fault. The both of you—”

How is it my fault!?

 

* * *

 

**_The monster shivered and disappeared, as I let out a sigh. My migraine was gone. I glanced at the girl, and saw that she was wearing a white thin yukata, not the black clothes she wore._ **

**_That’s it._ **

**_Forget this._ **

**_Pulling out a handkerchief, the same one as before, I folded it horizontally and set the girl down, resting her head gently against the ground before wrapping the handkerchief tightly around her knee to stop the bleeding and stood up. I grabbed my suitcase and repositioned my satchel and violin case before running off into the street. I’ll be damned if they chased after me. “This never happened!”_ **

 

* * *

 

Holy mackerel, I’m being punished for running away from a crime scene! Before I could continue my heavy flashback, Ichigo crossed his arms into an ‘X’, scowling at Rukia. “No WAY!”

“Like a boss!” I cheered, agreeing with Ichigo. For once. No way would we work for some Soul Reaper! I now pronounce Shinigamis as NOT REAL!

“Excuse me?” Rukia sputtered after a moment of being in a daze. Yes, we said no to her.

“I said, No way! I don’t want to face any more of those monsters!” Ichigo states as he turned and began to walk away. That’s how you do it in China Town!

I turned to Rukia, “I agree with Ichigo! Why should he help you? And why am I dragged into this?!”

“You ran away before I could make you forget what happened last night.”

I KNEW IT! I’m such a freaking coward! “Dammit!”

Ichigo glanced back at us and nodded towards me, “But thanks for helping Yuzu. She’s wondering whose hankie it belonged to.” Great, I’ll bet I have to go to Mr. I can see ghost’s house and get it. BLEEEP my life. “Besides that, I fought that thing yesterday…to save my family! I’m not gonna fight those things for total strangers! I’m not that self-sacrificing!”

Ouch, cold.

“Sorry to disappoint you.” Ichigo huffed and I clasped my hands together and bowed. All is forgiven, my son.

Rukia, on the other hand, had something else in mind. She nodded at Ichigo while pulling something out of her skirt pocket, “Very well…” She tugged the glove on her right hand, glaring at Ichigo, “You leave me no choice.”  And with that, she stalked towards a retreating Ichigo.

“Hey! What, what are you—? Leave me alone—!!”

THWAK!!~

I screamed as another Ichigo was ripped out from behind his original body, the uniformed wearing Ichigo falling face forward, and unconscious. The new Ichigo was wearing some sort of black kimono type of clothing, similar to what Rukia wore last night before losing all of her ‘dark power’.

“Hey! DUDE! That’s my soul! Hey, wake me up!” Ichigo shouted as he patted his Soul Reaper body (I’m guessing) as Rukia grabbed him by the shoulder, and I’m just here wondering if I finally lost my mind.

“You. You’re coming with me.” I backed away slowly, wanting to make a run for it, before Rukia jabbed a finger at me, “And you! You’ll watch over Ichigo’s body while we’re gone. Got it?”

“Y-Yeah, okay!” I am such a coward. I just wanted to go home and rest. I’m seriously exhausted.

I watched as the duo left and I stared at the Ichigo on the ground. What I just saw…it was a prank, right?

Right?

Deciding to get this over with, I walked over and crouched down, shaking the boy lightly, before moving him face up. There was a red bruise on his forehead from the fall. Ouch, that really left a mark. Alright, enough playing around. Time to get busy. Raising my hand up, I slapped him across the face. That would wake up even my brother.

…

 “Ichigo?”

Poke.

“Ichigo, are you okay?”

Poke. Poke.

“Ichigo, this isn’t funny…”

Poke. Poke. Poke. Jab. Punch!~

I watched in horror as Ichigo stiffly stayed in the same position he was in. This only meant one thing—

“Gah! Rukia killed him!! But where do I hide the body!!!???” I panicked, and ran around in circles, until I had an idea. Slowly turning to Ichigo’s unconscious body, a dark shadow crossing my face. “I could burn the body in the incinerator…and nobody would ever know.”

…

“WTF, BRAIN?!” I bonked my head, not believing what I actually said. I’m not a murderer! I need a clean streak! No blood, no nothing! “Besides, what if someone saw me dragging Ichigo’s body?!”

 

* * *

 

**_Sonya : Lolz, look at me! I’m taking Ichigo’s body to the incinerator, #murder!~ *takes photo of herself with Ichigo’s body*_ **

**_Random teacher: MURDURER! JESUS CHRIST, THROW THAT AMERICAN IN HELL!_ **

**_Sonya : YOU’RE NEXT!!!! #MURDERIN’!_ **

 

* * *

 

“I’m too violent for my own good, I gotta stop watching anime. Nah,” I said before another idea popped into my head. Making sure no one was around, I struggled and sweated, dragging Ichigo’s body towards the wall and set him against it. Pulling out a new hankie, I slowly covered it over his face. After that was done, I took off like a bat from hell.

A student walked by, as soon as I was gone, and gasped.

“TEACHER! STRAWBERRY PASSED OUT!”

“WHAT?! WHERE!?”

 

* * *

 

Good thing the day was over and the principal let me get out of detention early, so now I was walking home. More like, skating home. In a rush.

“I’m late, again! I hope Mr. Browne didn’t get there before me! I can’t believe that man gave me a curfew! I’m fifteen, for chocolate’s sake—why am I talking to myself!?”

Must be this anime-ish trait happening.

Finally, I reached the large expensive apartment complex. I swear that one apartment almost took up the whole floor. It seemed more like a flat.

No one understands Mr. Browne’s ‘refined’ tastes.

Heading into the building, I entered the lobby and waved to the receptionist, who was going through a fashion magazine. I sure hope her paycheck can afford some of it. I went straight for the elevator and quickly found myself on the third floor, seeing my door just a little away from the elevator. Pulling out my keys, I skated over and unlocked the door, immediately taking off my skates and tossing them on the ground.

“I’m home~” There was no need to say that.

Closing the door behind me, I concluded that Mr. Browne was NOT here (Thank you, jebus!), so I had the luxurious apartment all to myself. Aww yeah~

“I want to take a nap!” I immediately cheered, running to my bedroom, my bed in mind. Warm, warm sheets~ A fluffy comforter on a plush bed~ And—

The minute I opened the door to my room, I saw the window opened and some girl sleeping in my bed messily.

“Ssnrk…snrk…” She loudly snored, curling into the comfy sheets. My jaw fell before I ran around in a circle.

“ROBBER! ROBBER! A ROBBER IS STEALING, ER, I MEAN SLEEPING IN MY BED!” I cried, rummaging through my pockets for my cell phone. Okay, what was the number for the police again?

The girl continued snoring before she stirred in her sleep, sitting up. “Mmmhrrmmm….” She mumbled comfortably. Yeah, because that’s MAH bed! “Mrmmm….” Scooting off, she stood up and drowsily walked over to me and halted right in front. I stared at her in disbelief before she sleepily hugged me.

“I’m hung~ry~”

“WHAT?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Moshi moshi – It is a way of saying hello on the phone in Japan.
> 
> Please leave a kudos or a comment. I'd like to know what you think of it.


	3. I don’t believe I’ll ever have time for club anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Normal” Japanese language.
> 
> “Italics” English language.
> 
> “Bold” Hollows/Ghosts talking.

 

* * *

 

There’s been a lot to consider ever since I was quite a small child. Do I want to stay with Mr. Browne’s agency when I debut? Should I get my brother an apartment or a house to live comfortably in? What should the rocket ship look like when I decide to give up on humanity and the planet earth and leave?

All those questions came to me when I was cooking this complete stranger who had broken into my house a meal. This stranger, sitting at the kitchen table with her face planted on the top of it, kept muttering for something to eat. I didn’t feel like cooking a lot so I decided to make a simple sandwich of eggs, cucumbers and lettuce. The second I placed it in front of her, she turned her head to the side and sniffed before sitting up and grabbing the sandwich. I merely watched her as she scarfed down the sandwich, wondering if she was homeless.

Her blondish brown hair looked clean, as well as her clothes didn’t seem dirty in the slightest, but it was a bit wrinkled for sleeping with them on. So then why did she break in? I didn’t know how I would explain this to Mr. Browne, and as she swallowed down the last of the sandwich, she grinned at me as though we were beginning to have a blooming friendship, which we were totally NOT.

“Thank you for the meal-”

Now get out.

I wish I could have said that out loud, but instead I said, “Can you tell me why you broke into my apartment? You don’t seem to be planning to steal anything, but you’re still trespassing.” I may have sounded like I was cool as a cucumber, but my heart was beating a thousand miles a second, and I was ready to grab the kitchen knife I used to cut the veggies against her if it came down to it.

The woman looked lost before shrugging at me. “I don’t know.” Now who’s heard that one before? I didn’t seem amused as I crossed my arms. She didn’t seem too bothered by how ridiculous she sounded before nonchalantly leaning into her chair, “I was so tired after my shift and as I was going to go to the corner store to buy a sandwich, I blacked out. Something must have brought me here though. It smells so… _lively_.”

I took a _smaaaaall_ step back from her as she got up. Houston, we have a problem, she is walking too close to me. I reached behind me as I kept my eyes on her, feeling around for the kitchen knife when the trespasser grabbed both of my hands in a tight grip.

I’m totally DONE for.

“Thanks for feeding me and not freaking out when you found me in your bed! I didn’t think you were so kind to a stranger like me.” She smiled broadly as I felt myself shrink back. Of course I freaked out! I threatened to call the police, and maybe cut you and call it off as standing my ground. Does Japan have rules like that? “My name is Sakura, I work at the bathhouse a street over from here. What’s yours?”

Maybe not.

Still a bit skeptical of her, I leaned my head back from her being too close for comfort. “I’m…Sonya Avalon. I’m attending a high school nearby. Karakura High School, I think?”

Her usual big smile faltered a smidgen before it returned to her normal grin. “It’s fantastic to meet you, Sonya. Your name is so odd and pretty. Now I know you’re a foreigner,” Sakura proudly remarked as I finally released the skepticism I had for her. I’m still not one hundred percent sure to trust her, but I can at least judge that her smiles are genuine. “Again, so sorry for breaking in, sleeping in your bed and making you get me a sandwich. Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Well…I don’t really need anything from you.” I said. What could she possibly have that I would want? Sakura seemed a bit sad that I wasn’t asking a lot but instead, she squeezed my hands as her eyes glowed.

“I know! Let me buy you a drink from the corner store. It’s not that far, I promise!” Sakura offered as I look to the window, seeing that it was dark. Goodness, where did the time go? Mr. Browne should have been back by now.

“I don’t know if I can. I have a curfew and I think my mana—I mean, my guardian might come back any second now.” Despite that he should have been back by now, I continued, “Besides, I’m not really…comfortable leaving my home with a complete stranger I just met.” Who also broke into my house, broke into my bed, and broke into my refrigerator.

Sakura tugged me forward as she walked back, carefully trying to avoid whatever might be in her way. “I promise to keep you safe, seriously! Okay, okay, so maybe it might not be a good idea to leave with a person you just met. It’s a little _weird_.” No, it’s freaking **stupid** and **dangerous**.  “But the store just down the street. We’ll be in there just to buy a juice.”

And guess what? Instead of staying in my safe apartment, I found myself leaving the locked door and exiting the building with Sakura, with just my keys, cellphone and my wallet. Sakura and I walked down the street where the streetlights were on, safely guiding us to the corner store that was open twenty four hours a day. I barely spoke a word as Sakura and I stepped into the corner store and I stood on the sidelines as she went through the drinks available in the refrigerated aisle, asking me if I preferred this flavor or that. In the end she handed me a plastic bag that had apple tea in some kind of plastic bottle that reminded me of the Gatorade bottles.

“I honestly didn’t know Americans drank tea.” Sakura admitted as she had bought herself a box of Pocky, taking out a stick before offering me one. I take one, thanking her, before taking a small bite from the biscuit stick. Mm…it tastes like a chocolate sweet flavored cracker, but darn do I love.

“We do, but it’s like processed and heavily sugared.” I explained to her as we stepped out of the corner store, and Sakura laughs at my very true statement. I didn’t think much of it before bowing to her slightly. “Thank you for the tea. I promise to tell you what I think of it when I see you again.” Sakura waves off my politeness before patting my head.

“I’ll come by and see you then!” No, no, NO. I shake my head but she insists. “Don’t worry about it. I promise to not break in like today. I’ll visit you when I’m off my shift at six.” Well...that didn’t seem so bad. “I’ll bring some snacks too. Deal?”

“Sure. See you later, Sakura.” I waved to her as I turned around to head down the street. I think I just made a new friend. I didn’t think too much of it as I walk towards the massive apartment complex, getting ready to walk through the doors inside, when a headache struck me. Instantly I place a hand on my head and grunt, feeling my skull ache terribly for some reason. Ugh…it feels like…

“Raa is Raa from Ramen~ Shi is Shinigawa Sushi’s Shiii~” Someone childishly sang from the crosswalk around the corner of the building. I stagger back before turning towards the corner, taking small steps. What’s going on over there…? As I walk around the corner, I see a familiar brown-practically orange haired girl skipping down the crosswalk with the sign signaling that it was alright for pedestrians to walk ahead. She was holding a plastic bag, probably having bought something from a store like I did, and singing some kind of weird song. I stay where I am before glancing back, seeing that there was a car speeding right towards her. “Now let’s sing—”

Despite the headache, I drop my bag and rush to her, as she seemed to have noticed that the car was coming judging from the fear that struck her face. I jump out and tackle her out of the way just in time, but at that split second a large hand of inky darkness shot out from the ground and grabbed her leg.

“ **Let…me…have…her!!!!!** ”

Fear practically exploded throughout my body, as I felt it drag us towards the car that was coming straight at us. Instead of going forward. I dug my right heel into the ground and kicked with my left at the clawed hand as hard as I could while pulling her forward, and with that momentum the hand released her, but we both tumbled to the ground as we hit the side of the car. I let out a cry of pain before gripping my side while the orange haired girl was beside me, clutching her arm in silent pain. I watch as the car stopped and people ran out as I sat on my knees and struggled to reach out with that aching headache.

“Hey, are you…okay?” I asked as everything became a blur. Those guys truly didn’t seem to have any intentions of hitting us, and I believed them due to being more focused on that big clawed hand that had taken a hold of the girl’s leg. After I told them it was all good in the head, I had them carry the girl to my apartment. Mr. Browne still hadn’t come back to wherever he went, so I went to get the first aid that was in the bathroom, while the orange haired girl was looking around.

“Th-thanks so much for back then.” The orange haired girl said as I tended to her arm, cleaning and applying medicine to the scrape on her arm. After bandaging it, I looked at her leg and saw it heavily bruised. My heart quicken its pace and I quickly took care to apply medicine and bandage it as gently as I can as she had whimpered in pain during the process. “Ah, and thank you for fixing me up.”

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it. I’m actually glad I went out or I wouldn’t have been there. So it’s all good!” I said as I offered her a thumbs up and she beamed.

“Oh? I went out to get a drink and—oh no! I must have dropped it!” She looked around and I found myself realizing I had dropped the apple tea Sakura had bought me earlier. I grew nervous, remembering I had promised to tell her what I thought about it, and I flailed my arms as best as I could, trying to wave away her worries.

“Don’t worry! I’ll go get you something to drink from the fridge. I don’t think it’s safe for either of us to go out right now.” I would have gone out to go find them, since she had paid for hers and I was given mine from someone’s hard earned money, but I didn’t want to risk the chance of us running into that demon hand. I don’t think she even noticed that something had grabbed her, and thought that she was hit there as well.

The orange haired girl let out a small sigh of relief. “Oh, that makes sense then. Thank you very much for looking after me…” She trailed off, looking ditzy and searching the room for any sign of my name. I strike a pose, ignoring how painful my shoulder is.

“My name is Sonya Avalon, I’m glad to meet you!” She pointed at me and let out a shocked gasp, and I froze, thinking that I might have made a fool of myself. Instead, she looked giddy and smiled at me.

“You’re in my class! You’re the transfer student!” Well it seemed that I am known by all. I don’t know if that’s either good or bad, but I don’t really care. Or do I? The world shall never know unless I allow the story to continue. “My name is Orihime Inoue. I’m sorry for not introducing myself to you at class today. I was daydreaming.”

“You must do that a lot.” I joke as she looked so serious when she nodded at me. I immediately began to bandage my shoulder and get up, checking the fridge before bringing her a bottle of peach juice. “Here, have this. You should stay over tonight. It’s too dangerous tonight.”

“Are you sure?” She asked with an astonished look as I spin around with my arms out, as if to emphasis that there was more than enough room here for her.

“LOOK HOW BIG THIS PLACE IS!”

* * *

 

It was early that morning as Orihime showed me the slightly rundown apartment complex she lived in. She probably expected me to cringe in disgust due to how fancy my apartment complex was, but I merely walked up the creaking stairs and looked back at her, wondering if she was going to come along as well. Immediately she forgot to look surprised and hurried up the stairs, where I instantly grabbed her wrist the second she almost slipped down the stairs.

“Careful.” I warn her as she laughs it off and straightens up before unlocking the door. I was in my uniform, due to there being school today and I didn’t want to go and catch some shut eye with the fear of being late. She lets me in and I take off my shoes, walking across the floor as she hurries to go and change into her uniform, already having taken a bath at my place last night. My pride was wounded when none of my shirts fit her huge boobs and had to steal one of Mr. Browne’s shirts for her to use.

“Do you want any breakfast?” Orihime asked as she bounded around the room, changing into her uniform as I shook my head, but she insisted. I merely watched her as she turned one of the burners of the stove on and placed a frying pan on it. To my utter shock and maybe disgust, she began to throw things into it. Like butter, rice, vegetables, and fruit and…was that a raw fish? “Does fried rice sound good—?”

 **SLAM**!

The door shut so fast that she didn’t even finish her sentence. Left alone in her apartment, Orihime looked around and didn’t find me anywhere.

“Where did she go?”

Girl be tryin’ to kill me with food.

* * *

 

“Hey!”

I dashed out of the way as Ichigo chased after me. Sliding on my indoor shoes, I knelt for a second to slow down my momentum as I slid around the corner before dashing again, tripping on my feet for a bit until I was able to run past the fellow students of this high school, ignoring Ichigo yelling for me. My shoulder aches again due to me carrying my violin and bag but I ignore it as I made it to the stairs, hurrying down them before running into Uryuu who was at the bottom of the stairs. He stared up at me as I stared back down at him, both of us looking at each other with neutral expressions.

…stupid nerd, he still hasn’t shown me around school.

“HEEEEY!!” After hearing Ichigo yelling and noticing him running down the third flight of stairs, trying to gain on me, I merely jumped down the rest of the steps, which wasn’t much. Like five or six, I landed on my feet next to Uryuu, who didn’t even turn his head to glance at me and I continued to run off. I don’t have time to focus on nerds who may hold a significant importance later. I just wanted to get away from Ichigo.

I don’t even know why he was chasing me in the first place, I just ran the second he pointed at me.

Bad decision, I know I know, I don’t even know why I ran. Maybe because I had ideas of burning his body in the incinerator? Sshh…don’t tell him though.

“Stop running!” Ichigo yelled as I dashed through the crowd of students, practically dipping and sliding and dancing around the people. My violin case bounce against my back as I hurry to the music wing of the school. Honestly, the second I heard that this school had an orchestra, I was so excited. I checked it out after school yesterday, and realized that the students in the program were…more interested in what they wanted that didn’t deal with music. They just joined because it would look good on their college application.

Unfortunately, before I reached the doors, Ichigo caught the back of my collar and dragged me away from the tantalizing doors. I pawed at the air, wishing my escape goodbye. I momentarily submit to whatever Ichigo planned for me.

“Why the heck did you run?” Ichigo grunted as I shrugged, feeling small as he was holding me up as though he was holding a puppy that had wet the rug by the scruff of its neck. I suppose I didn’t weigh that much to him. Or he was that strong.

“You initiated the chase first…” I mumbled as he tried to ignore everyone’s stares, and I knew they probably thought I was being picked on, but no one stood up to him as Ichigo’s glare repelled all. “What do you want? I was going to club.”

“Rukia wants us to go and see her after school for some training. Sorry, but club is going to have to wait.” Ichigo says, seeming apologetic. I sigh. Training? What kind of training did she have planned? “Also, when can you come over? Yuzu wants to give you back the handkerchief.” He sets me down and also hands the one I put over his motionless face yesterday. “Very funny.” He sarcastically said as I turned around and accepted it.

I fell silent before looking up at him. “So they know about the night of those…what did Rukia called those monsters again…” I asked as I realize my mistake. “I-I mean, not that I believe in them! They’re just a figment of our imagination...but I’d like to know what to call them as.”

Nice save.

“They’re called Hollows.” He didn’t seem to believe me but didn’t ask. “I have no idea what Rukia has planned for you. I’m the one who has to take them down.” Ichigo said as we began to walk towards the doors to leave school. “And they don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“They don’t remember what happened last night. Rukia erased their memories and replaced it with some truck driver crashing into our house.” I made a sound of acknowledgement. Well that seemed to be alright. After all, that hole was huge. Only an eighteen wheeler could make that kind of damage. A Hollow isn’t real, so I’m sure that a truck driver was truly responsible for the damages…but… “And for some reason, Yuzu’s memory before the whole thing was that she fell down and skinned her knee but you came by while looking for your address and wrapped the handkerchief around her knee.”

“That actually sounds like something I wouldn’t do. I mean, would.” I said as Ichigo knocked his knuckles against my head, as if a warning. I make a small sound of pain but let it go as we walk out of the gates. “So do we meet her now?” Ichigo shakes his head and points down the road.

“There’s a place down there where she wants us to meet at. We’re supposed to change clothes for the training or something.”

What am I getting myself into? I merely nod and we part ways. I make my way home and surprisingly Mr. Browne still isn’t home. Removing my shoes, I grab my cellphone head to my room before dialing his number. Using one hand, I unbutton the blazer before undressing myself while the phone is ringing. I change into a long sleeve graphic t-shirt and keep my black tights on before putting on a pair of shorts. Grabbing a pair of sneakers from the closet, I shove my wallet into my pocket and head out the bedroom door. The call goes straight to voice mail and I end the call immediately. He must have had his phone turned off. What was he doing? Where is he?

Pocketing my phone, I grab my keys and leave the apartment, locking it and taking the stairs down to the lobby before leaving the building. I take the route back to school and walk past it, before seeing Ichigo and Rukia down at some picnic area in the lower area of the path. There was some kind of baseball pitching machines with Ichigo making some practice swings with the bat. I noticed there were some stairs so I hurried down the steps while waving to them.

“Private first class Sonya Avalon, ready for training!” I called out, earning their attention, as I stopped at the bottom of the steps and saluted them. Rukia waved me over and I hurried to her. For some reason, and I don’t know why, I was extremely excited. She must have noticed.

“What’s with all the enthusiasm? I thought you didn’t want to be a part of this?” Rukia asked with seriousness, but I could notice the light humor in her voice. I place my hands on my hips.

“A part of what?” I asked, feigning ignorance. I hold my hands out before spinning around slowly. “We’re merely hanging out, aren’t we? I always wanted to go out with classmates somewhere after school. Even if I had to skip club.” Rukia and Ichigo blankly watched me jump in excitement. “I was always so busy in America that I never got to go anywhere except for those museum appearances.”

“Museum appearances?” Ichigo asked as I ignored him before sitting at the picnic tables, beaming at them.

“So go ahead and practice your swings for baseball. Yes, yes~ there is nothing else about this.” I chirp happily and Ichigo just ignored me while Rukia sits next to me, holding a horror manga on her lap. I eagerly watch as the machine turns on and a ball with a weird drawing on it is sent at him. He swings the bat and hits it—

 _POOF_!

A cloud of pepper smoke surrounds him and he coughs and sneezes. Rukia is already reading that manga and I find myself dumbfounded before slowly pulling my phone out and taking a picture of the sneezing Ichigo. And here they say that there was no such thing as a sneezing fruit.

Well this will show them. A sneezing strawberry.

With Ichigo now just hitting the exploding pepper balls, I was busy texting on my phone to my brother along with the picture I just took, telling him that I was ‘finally being normal and hanging out with my classmates’

And that it really sucked.

“Aaaaand sent.” I closed my cellphone before glancing to Rukia, seeing her completely engrossed in that manga. “Rukia?” She hummed and I frowned. “Assuming this Soul Reaper thing is…real and all, what am I supposed to do?”

Maybe sit here and look pretty. Or pathetic. But seriously.

“We’ll figure it out.” Rukia merely replied and I find myself stumped. Dear lord, I really am being a hypocrite. All my life I refuse to believe in ghosts, and here I am dealing with people who takes care of dangerous ghosts called Hollows. Well, at least I can skip Orchestra practice. Not like the conductor or the students take it seriously.

Soon, I found myself looking over Rukia’s shoulder, reading the manga along with her. It was okay, I guess, but Rukia seemed to be so into it that she was literally reading it out loud.

 **“…I know, sister…everything is hidden in this box, right…? In this jade box, passed down from our mother…** _No…! No! We mustn’t open the box! Francois!_ **Now! Give me the box! Sister Marianne** —”

“HEY!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!?” I felt my heart leave my chest as I fell to the ground as Rukia screamed while she jumped up with the manga scrunched up in her hands. I found myself curled up into a ball, not wanting to stand up. Was this revenge for thinking about burning his body in the incinerator?

It probably was.

“Y-You fool! Don’t scare me like that! I’m studying modern speech from this book!” Rukia angrily scolded as she tried to recover from her shock of Ichigo suddenly appearing out of nowhere. I snort. Modern speech, my butt.

“Studying? But that’s some cheesy horror manga. Don’t relax while I’m busy training! Geez.” Ichigo complained as Rukia set the manga on the picnic table and regained her composure, looking at the irritated strawberry.

“…hm. So you’re done with the training?” Rukia asked as Ichigo pulled over the empty machine, giving it a heavy pat. I get up slowly and reach out for the baseball bat.

“Yeah, I’m done hitting the one hundredth pepper-filled balls.” Ichigo said as he handed me the baseball bat. It’s slightly heavy, and I give a few wimpy test swings. “Breaking open one hundredth pepper balls, what kind of training is that? What I wanna know is how you go this machine—” Rukia immediately cut him off as she jumped off the bench.

“You fool! The pepper-filled balls were the targets you weren’t supposed to hit!” Rukia angrily exclaimed as I stopped swinging and hummed in thought. So then…he hit the bad targets one hundred times? I continue swinging as Ichigo looked dumbfounded.

“The bad targets?”

“Yes!” Rukia immediately clarified as it became silent between them. She coughed, realizing how he stinks of peppers. “…you didn’t just…hit all of them?”

“Perfectly.” And here comes the arguing.

“You fool! How many times did I tell you only to hit the balls that had a picture of a head on them! You hitting them all is basically pointless! What do you think this training is for?!” Rukia angrily argued with Ichigo as they were this close to butting heads while Ichigo thrusts two balls forward with crude pictures of hands, one looking like a palm and the other having a face. Yeah I wouldn’t be able to decipher which is a head and what is not if it was being thrown at me at fifty miles an hour.

“I don’t know what it’s for! Plus, how the hell can I make out which of your pictures are heads and which aren’t!!?” Ichigo demanded an answer from her and as they began to argue, I swung the bat, deep in thought.

“Why are you training, Ichigo? Are you going to be using a weapon against these imaginary monsters?” I asked as Ichigo turned to me and placed a hand on my head, roughly grinding his hand on my scalp as I felt myself freeze from the strange pain. It was like a rough petting. “Yow!! That hurts, Ichigo!”

“Are you seriously going to pretend that night never happened?! You saw it! I was wearing a black robe and carrying a huge sword.” Ichigo said as I cut him off.

“Stop right there and rethink those words.”

“Why?”

“Never mind…” I smooth out my ruffled hair before swinging the bat. “Man…I bet sword fighting is cool. All I do is tennis practice. Well, used to.” I took the position swung it forward. “Forehand” I swung the bat back. “Backhand!” I then swung it down in front of me with all my might. “Overhead death strike!”

“Is this tennis thing so intense? It seems to be perfect sword practice, the last one more so.” Rukia said as I shrugged.

“I made up the last one.” I sat down on the bench as Rukia grabbed one of the balls from Ichigo and shoved it forward at the both of us.

“Listen! A Hollow’s weakness is its head! If you slice the head, you can defeat it in one blow!” I tilted my head to the side, wondering whether to listen or not. I don’t believe in whatever they’re trying to make me be a part of. I know it gets tiring to hear me say it, but really… Even if last night, I saw a Hollow hand try to keep Orihime and I in place in front of a speeding car. “This training is so that you can accurately hit the head in any situation.”

Ichigo didn’t seem to be too happy with her explanation. He merely sat next to me and gave Rukia a look. “Why do I have to do that? I’ve been beating them so far.”

“How many have you taken down so far?” I asked, just for fun. He held up two fingers. I shrugged. Meh. It hasn’t even been long since he started playing the role of ‘Soul Reaper’.

“You fool! You haven’t even been able to take either one out in one hit! Even the beginner Soul Reapers are able to manage such a feat on their second try,” Rukia scolded as Ichigo looked irritated. “Sneaking up to a Hollow and defeating it in one hit is the basics of defeating them. It’s a miracle that you have remained unscathed so far, from the way you‘ve been fighting!”

“Uh…” His irritation melted away into a face where he seemed unsure of what Rukia was telling him. “Attacking from behind? How can I fight so dirty like that?”

“Put your pride away, you fool. Save that for fights against humans! Your opponents are Hollows, so the same rules do not apply!” Rukia harshly argued as I felt a bit…nervous. She most likely isn’t speaking to me because I’m not the one fighting, but I feel like that may change. “If you keep talking naively like that, you’ll end up dead!”

Reality and denial immediately mixes together terribly like oil and water. Rukia was absolutely serious and I didn’t know what I wanted to feel. Or believe. I mean, sure…maybe this little game of ‘let’s pretend to be Soul Reapers’ seemed to be getting a little out of hand, but then I also want to say I want to back out because I didn’t want to die. Who would want to die? Yet, I said nothing and Ichigo cascaded his sight on the ground.

“…but that’s—” He murmured when all three of us instantly jumped out of our skin as someone yelled out loud from behind us that scared the socks off of us.

“HELLO, KUROSAKI-KUN! HI, AVALON-SAN!!!!”

Once again I fell off the bench and curled up on the ground, shivering in fear while Ichigo had let out a short scream. Rukia merely jolted as Orihime laughed as though scaring us wasn’t that big of a deal.

“I-Inoue, w-what the heck are you doing here?!” Ichigo stammered in that rare moment, trying to get over the shock, as Orihime giggled and held up her plastic bag where I could see a leek and a few packages of whatever she had cluttered around in. I simply got up and brushed the blades of grass off my clothes.

“Eheheh! I was doing a little dinner shopping.” Orihime said as she pulled out the leek and spun it around in her hand. Is she doing a leek spin? “I bought leeks, onions, butter and bananas and gelatin!” Oh lord no… What could she make out of that? Orihime placed it back in her bag and she looked to me and then Ichigo. “What are you doing here with Avalon-san, Kurosaki-kun?” What the heck is she doing with all those…oh…! Honorifics. I haven’t been using them at all since I’ve been here, have I?

“Oh? Well, uh…” Ichigo struggled to find an excuse as I also tried searching through my brain for a plausible excuse. Our search went for naught when Orihime spotted Rukia.

“K-Kuchiki-san?” Orihime looked shocked to see Ichigo with the two transfer students. She had a small panic attack as she flipped through all the reasons as to why Ichigo would be hanging out with the two girls as Rukia looked at Orihime confused.

“Hm? Who the hell are you?” Ichigo immediately scolded her with a sharp ‘IDIOT!!’

I tapped Rukia’s shoulder, “She’s in our class, Rukia.” Immediately Rukia’s eyes flashed as she hurried towards Orihime and curtsied with a sweet smile.

“Oh, Inoue-san! Honored to make your acquaintance!”

YOU FAKER!!!

I grumbled to myself along with Ichigo as we watch Orihime copied Rukia’s actions with a confused curtsy. “Uhh…yes? Honored to make your…?” I give up. This faker is basically acting all nice to anyone in our class but us. I’m just shocked that Orihime went along with it, despite not knowing Rukia’s real behavior. Orihime and Rukia stopped curtsying and the busty girl leaned forward, falling silent. I feel like she may be bothered that I’m hanging around Ichigo. I should ask her later. We’re friends…right? Ichigo seemed to notice the bandage around Orihime’s arm, the same one I bandaged the other day.

“What’s wrong with your arm? Did you fall down?” Ichigo asked as Orihime held her arm out and pointed at the bandage.

“Oh this? No, Avalon-san and I got hit!” Ichigo immediately reacted the opposite of how Orihime was acting.

“H-Hit?! By a car!?”

“Yeah.” I shrugged as I pulled my neck collar aside and showed him the bandages on my shoulder. “It’s not that big of a deal. I happened to be out when she was crossing the street. I saw the car coming and I pushed her out of the way.”

“I really am grateful for what you did.” Orihime said with a bow. “It just came out of nowhere and bam! I’ve been getting hit a lot lately. Heh.” Oh man, is she the clumsy type?

I shouldn’t be saying that. We’re in the same category, but she’s like, to the extreme.

“You shouldn’t be laughing. That’s a serious accident! You should be angrier!” Ichigo scolded as Orihime sighed.

“Well, it’s not like they tried to me on purpose.” Orihime explained as I nodded.

“They even stopped and checked on us. There wasn’t any serious injuries. And if there was, I have their information.” Orihime and I laughed softly, knowing we wouldn’t really need the information at all. It was just an accident and I told them not to drive so recklessly at night anymore.

“Do you get hurt often, Inoue-san?” Rukia asked as Ichigo seemed deadly irritated as he answered the question for the clumsy big-breasted sweetheart,

“More than often! It’s almost every day!”

Orihime sheepishly scratched the back of her head. “I zone out a lot…so…” I feel like she and I are going to be good friends. Maybe. But I hope so. Our sleepover was pretty fun. We even exchanged house numbers. I gave her my cellphone number too, in case she needed anything.

“Then you shouldn’t act like it’s unavoidable like that!” Ichigo scolded. He turned to me as well, “And you shouldn’t have thrown yourself into danger. I’m glad it saved Orihime, but you could have gotten hurt as well.”

“I only got my shoulder and sides bruised, like Orihime’s arm and leg.” I explained as Rukia looked to Orihime’s leg, her eyes narrowing. I paused before finding myself growing nervous. No, it was a bruise from getting grazed by the car, not by that demon’s hand. And it’ll stay that way…right?

The bruise was unwrapped from the bandages from last night for some reason. I’d have to go and force Orihime to wrap it later. Otherwise it wouldn’t heal. “Can I take a closer look at that bruise on your leg?” Rukia asked as Orihime nodded.

“Sure, go ahead.” Rukia crouched down as Orihime stuck her leg out closer to her. “I got this last night, too. It must have been when I was grazed by the car or when I fell…” I didn’t say anything and looked away, attracting Ichigo’s attention. Meanwhile, Rukia was staring intently at Orihime’s dark bruise. Orihime pulled her foot back and knelt down, looking at Rukia with curiosity. “Kuchiki-san? Is something wrong?”

“Huh?” Rukia shook her head, bringing herself out of that trance. “Oh, no. I was just thinking…it looks painful.”

Orihime gasped and pointed at her arm. “Wow! You’re right! My leg hurts much more than my arm!” Both Ichigo and I reacted pretty badly to her statement.

 “Have you gone numb from the pain?! Go to the doctor! Doctor!” Ichigo stressed as I placed my hands on my hips and glared at Orihime, “Why didn’t you tell me last night?!”

Orihime stammered as she looked away, her face red. She raised her hand to cover her blushing face before noticing what her watch said, making her gasp. “Uh oh! When did it get so late?! I got to go!”

“In a rush?” I asked and she nodded as she hurried for the steps.

“My TV program is about to start! I got to go! I’ll see you later!” Orihime said as I instantly elbowed Ichigo in the side. He flinched before calling after her.

“You want me to walk you home?” Ichigo asked as Orihime looked back, looking absolutely shocked and flustered. I get it now. I may act stupid, but I’m not dumb enough to not see it.

She wants to be friends with Ichigo!

“Wh-What? N-no, I’m fine!” Orihime cried as Ichigo elbowed me in the side, not realizing that it was the side I had bruised last night. I instantly fell to the ground, writhing in pain as Ichigo flinched in shock before waving a crestfallen Orihime and was glued at my side.

“Are you okay? Sorry, was that the side you bruised?” Ichigo asked as I pulled myself onto my knees, gripping my side that ached. I let him help me up before I delivered a harsh elbow jab to his side. “Ow!”

“Take it like a man! How does revenge taste like? TASTE IT!”

Before our fight escalated, Rukia walked over to us and shoved us away each other. “Enough, you fools. I need to ask a question. That Inoue girl, are you two particularly close?” I was the first to answer.

“I just transferred the other day, but she and I seem to hit it off last night. So I guess we’re friends now.” Then it was Ichigo’s turn to answer.

“Not really…. Well, I guess so. She’s best friend with someone I know since the eighth grade.” Ichigo said as Rukia nodded.

“Any family?” Ichigo took his time to ponder this as I began to rub my aching side. Stupid Ichigo.

“…one. She had a much older brother.” I paused at that and Rukia looked confused.

“She ‘had’?”

“Yeah.” Ichigo said, “He died three years ago.” My heart practically deflated, like how an adorable kitten would die in your hands. I wouldn’t know how to properly explain how I would feel if my brother died. I think… If I had to act serious for once, I think I’d want to die and be with him. “I was the one who opened the door, so I remembered it well.” I could see a younger Ichigo opening the door from his house, which happened to be a clinic right? “It was as I was about to leave for school. The clinic wasn’t open, yet I heard the bell ring. A girl was there with her brother on her back.” A frantic younger Orihime with her severely bleeding brother on her back begging Ichigo to help. He weighs heavy on her back, but she doesn’t care. She cries as she begs for help and Ichigo calls for his dad as he immediately hurries to help. I open my eyes, finding myself shivering at those mental images. “It was a car accident. Blood was everywhere. There was nothing we could do with our equipment. He died before the ambulance to take him to a hospital arrived.” That left me extremely depressed now. “…That’s it. Well, I only recently learned that the girl from back then was Orihime.” He glanced to Rukia, “though why are you asking this? You seem interested in her.”

“Not really. I’m not interested.” Rukia flatly said as my depression disappeared as Ichigo stared at her in a strange and bothered way, like she had grown eight heads or something. She turned away from us with that ‘I dun give a f*ck’ face and let out a stiff huff, “Let’s go home, too. Training is done for the day. And I’ll make sure to find a way to get some kind of use out of you.”

I laughed, earning a strange stare from Ichigo, before crossing my arms with a defiant huff. “Good luck.”

Ichigo rolled his eyes before a thought came to him. “Oh yeah, Rukia. Where do you always leave to? You have nowhere to live here, right?”

Rukia turned around and smirked at him, “Heh, what? You’re interested in my personal life?” Ichigo was startled and immediately retorted a no as she turned away from him in a huff, walking away. “Then don’t ask. Fool.”

My phone started ringing and I immediately answered it while watching Rukia leave, staying at Ichigo’s side as he was shaking his fist at the retreating form of Rukia, who was pushing the baseball pitching machine away and carrying the baseball bat.

“ _Hello, Sonya. It’s me. Where are you?_ ” Mr. Browne asked. I let out a stretched out ‘uuuuh’ and glanced to Ichigo who was looking right at me, having already calmed down quite considerably but I could still see the irritation on his face.

“ _Out_.” I said as Mr. Browne grunted.

“ _Well get back to the apartment. I’ll be home tomorrow morning. I’m in Tokyo having a business meeting. I wanted to leave a note but I didn’t want to risk being late and I haven’t been near my phone until now_.” Mr. Browne said as I held up a finger, signaling for Ichigo to be patient a little longer.

“ _Okay then. I will. Is it okay to have friends over when you’re not home?_ ” I asked and he reluctantly agreed. I let out a triumphing cheer. “ _Yay! Bring back souvenirs! See you tomorrow_.” I didn’t even wait for him to let in another word and ended the call before looking at Ichigo. I think Mr. Browne probably wanted to ask if I had actually made friends. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay. Who was that on the phone?” Ichigo asked as we headed up the steps. I think carefully about my words before deciding to stick with what I always say.

“He’s my guardian. I’m actually living alone.”

“Oh, just like Orihime.” Ichigo said as I shrug. It’s not so bad living alone. I just wish Mr. Browne had gotten me a smaller apartment. It doesn’t seem like he’ll be staying there all the time, so I’ll be alone with all that wasted space. Again.

“Maybe that’s why she and I are hitting it off so well?” I said as he didn’t say anything when we reach the top. “Thanks for today. It was fun. Let’s hang out again.”

“Want me to walk you home?” Ichigo offered, like he did with Orihime before. I nod and we walk down the sidewalk, heading towards the direction of my apartment complex. Before long we are standing before the fancy apartment complex and I can see Ichigo just staring at the apartment complex in shock. I stand there next to him, waiting for him to finish gawking. “Are you some kind of spoiled rich girl or something?!”

“Not really. The rent here isn’t higher than the average rent in the town.” I gave a slight bow. “Again, it was more fun than I expected. I’m sure I would have fell asleep during today’s practice. See you at school tomorrow.” I was about to turn around but Ichigo placed a hand on my head, surprising me. “Wh…what are you doing, Ichigo?”

“…Look, it’s none of my business and everything, but I just need to ask you.” Ichigo huffed as I looked up at him with confusion written across my face. “I’m the only one out of us three who can turn into a Soul Reaper. Rukia can probably hold herself off against a Hollow or something, but I don’t know about you. You can, I don’t know…forget about it and save yourself from getting hurt. I can try and talk Rukia into leaving you alone, but I bet she’ll want to erase your memories or something.”

I stare at him in shock. Do…Do I…?

Do I make fun of him?

“You said it yourself that you’d never believe in Hollows and stuff like this. It’s none of my business about how you think, but I think it’s my business that if you get hurt on one of the missions, I don’t know if my pride allowed that.” Ichigo bluntly said as I was still trying to wrap my head around what he head. “In my opinion, you’re a moron for denying everything after seeing that Hollow up close the day you came here for the first time.”

“Moron is my middle name after all. Or something with a similar meaning close to that,” I joked, trying to lighten the mood. “Ichigo, don’t worry about me. If Hollows are that easy to kill, then I don’t know if I should take this seriously. Anyways, see you tomorrow.” Turning away, I hurried in and left him standing at the front.

After greeting the receptionist, I take the elevator to my floor, and get inside my apartment safely. It’s around six in the evening so I expected Sakura to show up anytime. I take off my shoes at the front and jump onto the couch, taking it easy for now. Ahh, all I did was sit there and I feel worn out.

It’s quiet for once and I sigh, closing my eyes. I think I could have escaped whatever the world has out for me if I stayed with them. But for some reason, no matter how much I complained, the thought of talking my way out of their business never crossed my mind.

In all honesty… I hate ghosts with a passion. Like that one hiding behind the TV and the one looming around in the kitchen. I try to ignore them every time I go out, but for some reason, as I arrived in Japan, I’ve been seeing more of them. Especially the second I entered London before coming here. It just drove me mad but it was easier to ignore them than to admit they were there.

Yeah…

My mind is just playing tricks on me.

The second I heard a knock at the door, I got up and walked towards the door, letting Sakura in. She was carrying a bag full of snacks and immediately hugs me before sitting down at the couch. I close the door and sit down with her. We talk, but it’s nothing really too important to say other than now, she’ll be having to work at the bathhouse a little longer than usual.

“So I’ve been talking about my job, but I haven’t heard about yours.” Sakura stated as she was unscrewing the top of some bottled tea before handing it to me. It’s the same tea she had bought me last night. I take a small sip and found the taste of it sweet and pleasing. I drink more of it and hand it back for her to drink. “I mean, look at this place! It’s huge! Seriously, if you had an extra room, I’d move in with you.”

“Hilarious.”

“It wasn’t a joke.” I sweat a bit in nervousness as she chuckled. “So what kind of job do you work to live in a place like this? They don’t have any available floors for anyone to apply for.”

“I don’t work that much. Just a little of this and that. But I’m guaranteed a job when I graduate, so I got that going for me.” I said as Sakura looked impressed. “I’m supposed to think that coming here is my ‘vacation’. I usually get tutored at home, so being able to go to school is pretty fun.”

“Have you made any friends other than me?” Sakura asked and I tell her about Orihime, Ichigo and (I suppose) Rukia. She looks genuinely interested as I talk about them. I’m glad she doesn’t tell me to be quiet. “They sound fun. It’s always fun to make friends.”

“Yeah…” I refrain myself to tell her about the ridiculous make believe of Soul Reapers and Hollows. Which is another reason why I hate things like that.

It’s harder to find someone who will listen and not think you’re crazy.

 


End file.
